


Arrest

by Fluffysminion



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Cannibalism, Ghoul, Gore, Monster - Freeform, Mutation Stage: Three, Port Caius, The Tall and the Smalls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22652491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffysminion/pseuds/Fluffysminion
Summary: Life on Port Keys has many similarities to his life as an enforcer, but the differences are also quite significant.
Kudos: 1





	Arrest

Jaspar froze when he heard the gunshot. He was about half-way through his patrol, in the alleyways behind the second recreational district. Like most of Port Caius the majority of the buildings were haphazardly residential, the singletons had shown no inclination to maintain the larger pools and anti-grav zones since their takeover two years prior. The higher than average density of bars and gambling dens made it a promising place to look for fights, but a weapon discharge signified this was more than a few drunken punches.

The sound echoed, and from the volume it had to be close. Close enough that Jaspar might be able to make it in time. But he had to be careful of his footing here, these pathways had been left to fall apart since the buildings they clung to had reached the ceiling and cut off the light. He slunk along pipes and over repurposed scrap, his long limbs letting him slip easily between upright and all fours as the space demanded.

There. On a walkway only one story down, lit faintly by a sliver of light where the towering structures had yet to meet. Two figures, both male, one with the smoking gun. An almost perfect situation, although the risk to the victim means he’d have to be particularly careful. Jaspar took off his coat and set aside his gun, watching the victim fumble through his pockets. Jaspar was itching to jump in but he couldn’t rush this, he couldn’t afford to take unnecessary risks.

The victim’s possessions were being handed over slowly, the aggressor was becoming frustrated. Jaspar drew his dagger and applied the flowerroot oil. Below, the gun was withdrawn to gesture at the victim’s wrist. This was his chance.

He fell, blade first, slashing at the man’s face. The man raised his own weapon in defence, the blow sliced his hand and a ringing shot took a chunk out of the wall. Jaspar landed inelegantly on top of him, both crashing to the floor. Blood. Jaspar licked his lips.

Jaspar hopped backwards, wary of a counterattack. The victim was screaming, the perpetrator was cursing. He’d dropped his gun and started to climb to his feet, but his arm gave way. Jaspar kicked the weapon away and put a foot on the man’s back to hold him down as he started to convulse.

He spat on the dagger, then wiped the ash from the blade and sheathed it. “You have broken the law.” Jaspar’s voice was calm. The man on the ground’s words had dried up, he foamed at the mouth. “ _That_ , makes you prey.”

There was a thud and Jaspar looked around in panic, but it was just the victim, who seemed to have passed out. Jaspar wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Had he changed that much? He still looked human, as far as he could tell. Sure he was taller now, his trousers barely reached past his knees and the coat that once reached down to his ankles now only went down to his waist. But besides being tall he was just thin, and he didn’t think seeing someone’s ribs was a thing that would cause someone to pass out. Whatever it was, that was their problem.

What was Jaspar’s problem was the man on the ground in front of him. He had stopped vomiting, and his limbs were barely twitching. There was no resistance as Jaspar rolled him onto his back and pulled back his eyelids. No response there either. He was either dead or paralysed badly enough that he soon would be. Which was good enough.

Getting the man’s clothes off was a struggle, the body was heavy and Jaspar could only lift parts of it at a time. But frustrating as it was he managed it before the corpse went stiff, and it was even still warm when he dragged it behind some loose wall panelling.

But the victim was still there, still lying where he’d fallen. He might have hit his head badly when he passed out, if he needed medical attention Jaspar would have to abandon the body to take him. But then again, he might already be dead. Part of Jaspar hoped that was the case and he reached a hand towards the man’s neck to check his pulse.

But the man _bit_ him and was very much alive, Jaspar howled in pain entirely unprepared for retaliation. He bit his lip to hold back the cursing and clutched his bleeding fingers as the victim scrambled to his feet and ran for the light.

Jaspar licked the blood from his hands and concluded that while he was glad that the victim had got away unharmed, it would have been nice if he had not tried to take Jaspar’s fingers with him. People never appreciated it when he rescued them.

Only one body for him then, disappointing but still more food than he was expecting to find. Ideally he would have liked to take it somewhere safer to eat, but since it was too heavy for him to lift he didn’t have a choice but to eat it here and hope that no-one interrupted him.

Eating was a long process. His teeth were almost useless when it came to processing raw meat, and it took time to cut the body into manageable chunks. It took him hours, but when he was done not a drop of blood or scrap of flesh remained. Even then he was still hungry, and he looked just as thin and emaciated as he did before.

He thought better of getting the marrow out at the crime scene. Breaking bones was loud, and better done somewhere he could do something with the resulting fragments. He had stripped them bare enough that he could put them in his bag without fear of ruining it, so all that was left to do was tidy up and head home.

He folded the man’s clothes as neatly as he could, and collected the gun and other scattered possessions from when he removed them in a hurry. He spat on the spilled gut contents before he left, it was tedious waiting for it all to turn to ash but he had to be thorough. Leaving vomit from the victim at the crime scene would be sloppy, not to mention dangerous. A life lived in densely populated cities had taught him to take no chances when it came to disease.

He reached up and grabbed his coat, then clambered up the wall to take the remains of his meal somewhere there was a bit more light. Once settled atop a well-lit roof he chewed thoughtfully on a rib while considering the belongings he had to work with. Most were no help, his knife was the plain sort found everywhere, his clothes were worn but not distinctive. The gun was one of the pistols from the Steelkar forgeworld, but the smugglers who’d brought those to the station had been too keen to offload them and they were easier to get hold of than food in some areas. There was a serpent ring, required for entry into one of the less friendly districts, and some vouchers for food stands mixed in with his spare change. Something to start with at least.

Something crunched in his mouth, and he dropped the rib in shock. For a moment he thought he might have somehow bitten through it, but the pain and fresh blood in his mouth tell him it was something else. He’d lost a tooth. He found it in his cheek and spat it into his palm to examine it. He was quite familiar with what teeth ought to look like, and this one was missing its root, like a child’s tooth. Unsure what to do about this he swallowed the tooth and tried to forget about it.

While there was nothing he could do about his teeth, the dead man’s possessions were another matter. Nikota often asked why he didn’t just keep the things, but it was hard to explain that while his biology might force him to kill, that was no excuse for him to steal. But he supposed growing up in a place where things you lost sight of were gone forever didn’t well prepare someone for understanding property laws.

Passing the serpent gate was easy, with a bit of climbing there was no need to go anywhere near the checkpoint. The locals had taken some steps to reduce the number of handholds on the walls here, but this was one situation where his stretched proportions were useful and not a hinderance. Inside the compound things were less gaudy than much of the rest of the station, some effort had been taken to avoid businesses clashing too badly with their neighbours.

Checking the places the man frequented let Jaspar narrow down the area he probably lived enough that he could just leave the man’s belongings in the open and it was probable they’d be found by someone who knew him, but Jaspar thought he could do better. The serpent quarter was small, and there was only one building where people lived withing the region he thought most likely.

He climbed the outside of the building, checking the windows as he passed them. Many were messy and filled with unwashed clothes, the smell of sweat set his mouth watering. Eventually he found a room with a woman inside with similar facial structure, probably a relative.

Having found his destination, he took out the folded clothes and smoothed out the creases from their journey in his bag. He arranged the man’s other possessions carefully on top, trying to place them so that they would be obvious. Then he sighed, and knocked on the door.

He leapt onto the roof before the door opened, and he watched nervously for signs of recognition. The initial reaction was shock, confusion, but as she examined the items her movements sped up, she became frantic. Denial, rage. Jaspar slipped away, unable to watch or listen any longer. He hoped he’d done the right thing.

He disappeared into the pipes, feeling guilty and well-fed. There was no light in the abandoned plumbing, but he knew his way without having to check the details stamped on the pipes. The darkness left him alone with his thoughts, and with no distractions he couldn’t help connecting the cries of grief with the nightmare image of the missing tooth. He had always been told mutations were a consequence of moral failings, stains on the soul. His soul must be stained indeed, as he killed over and over to keep himself alive. Perhaps it had been foolish of him to believe that he was cursed enough.

Or maybe Nikota was right, it was a mistake to try to give things back. It certainly wasn’t easy to be reminded that his last meal had been a person. He sighed.

As always he could smell his home before he saw it, the scent was not impeded by the twists and turns to the same extent the light was. The old fuel tank that he was currently living in had a narrow entrance, but was spacious enough inside for Jaspar to stand without stooping. Nikota rushed him and hugged him tight enough to force the air from his lungs, Karger was not far behind looking relieved.

“Woah, careful. I’ve missed you too. But I’ve eaten now, so I won’t have to hunt for a while.” He put an arm around Karger and hugged Nikota back.

Karger’s face had returned to its default worried expression. “Whut’s wrong lud?”

“I lost a tooth today.” Such a small thing to cause him so much panic. “I didn’t break it, it fell out. And I think some of the others are loose too.” Karger said nothing, so Jaspar kept going. “I should have kept it, it was like a child’s tooth. But it scared me Karger.” He swallows and moves closer. “I’m scared I’m changing again. I- I don’t want to become something worse, I’m bad enough already. I don’t understand what I did this time, I’ve been doing the best I can considering what I am and I just- I just don’t know what else I _can_ do.”

He clung to Karger, burying his face in Karger’s shirt to hide his sobbing. “It’s like a bad dream, I don’t want to lose my teeth. Eating’s hard enough already.”

Karger haltingly smoothed Jaspar’s hair. “Y’worry t’much abut thin’s th’t aren’t lud.” One of Nikota’s rats watched from his shoulder as Jaspar’s sobbing turned to sniffling. “T’s alright. Leme have a look then.”

Jaspar pulled back and obediently opened his mouth. Karger could immediately see the gap where the tooth was missing, which was only bleeding weakly now. He hesitated, then gently prodded the open gum, trying to ignore the saliva pooling in Jaspar’s mouth. He ran his hand over Jaspar’s other teeth and withdrew his hand. “There’s anuther tooth comin through. A few ‘f’t’others’re lose but there’re pr’bly m’re under th’em too.”

Jaspar swallowed and looked up at Karger anxiously. “But…”

“Shh, it’s nuthin’ t’be worried about. T’s a normal thing, getting new teeth.”

“For a child! I’m…” He has never known his age, and even if he did it would mean nothing to Karger. “I barely remember being a child.”

Karger sighed in his I can’t believe I’m having to explain something this obvious way. “Yer growin like a child. Y’ve got bigger ‘n y’teeth’re t’small an y’gettin new uns.” He wiped the tears from Jaspar’s face and hugged him. “I know changing’s scary, but y’dun’t know f’sure it’s gunna b’bad. An ‘f’chewin’s hard fur a bit we c’n cook y’food f’yer. Cooking make thins softer after all.” He pulled Jaspar up into a sitting position and took a step back when he thought he was stable.

“But won’t that be a lot of work? And cooking changes it into a different thing, it might not still be food afterwards.”

Karger put a hand on his shoulder. “As yer friends were s’fond’f saing, we’ll burn th’t bridge when we come t’it.”

Jaspar smiled, and Karger patted his shoulder and picked up the bag Jaspar had dropped. Nikota scurried over. “C’n I see?”

“Jus dun’t touch!” Karger warned.

Jaspar opened his mouth again and demonstrated the gap by sticking his tongue through it. Nikota reached out to poke it but Jaspar caught her hand. “Listen to Karger Nikota.”

She huffed and climbed up on his shoulders. Before she had settled Jaspar jumped forward, and was rewarded with several simultaneous squeaks. Nikota grabbed handfuls of Jaspar’s hair and leaned forward to whisper “Y’ll’ve t’try harder th’n that t’defeat me!”

Jaspar shook his head and bucked, trying as hard as he could to almost shake her off. “Careful, I’m a real monster now, people pass out at the sight of me.”

Nikota laughed. “Y’ve _always_ been scary Jaspar.”

Distracting Nikota had worked on him too, with his daughter holding on to him and the familiar smells and sounds of Karger cooking the talk of monsters did seem laughable. The smell reminded him too much of the taste and feel of ash in his mouth for him to really like it, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

When Nikota had started to get bored and Jaspar started to tire Karger walks over holding a mug of something hot. “Try this lud, ‘t might help.”

Jaspar took it and sniffed it suspiciously. It smelled very much like not food, the sort of thing Nikota and Karger might drink. Karger was still looking at him as if he expected Jaspar to drink it, so he reluctantly took a sip.

He wasn’t sure if he liked it, but it wasn’t ash, which was what he had been expecting.

“Th’t’s one less thing f’y’t worry ‘bout then.” Karger smiled. “We’ll look after y’whatev’r happens.”

**Author's Note:**

> Him telling his prey that they had broken the law was actually the first thing I decided on when he mutated, but it has taken a long time to fit that into some writing.


End file.
